Not My Brightest Moment
by NJ7009
Summary: Okay, maybe putting a big red button on my latest invention was an idiotic move on my part. Especially when said button caused the invention to explode. I tempted fate in that move and now, here I am, plummeting to my death. (Not as dark as the summary suggests. A Mikey and Donnie bonding fic. 2012' verse. NOT T-Cest! One-shot.)


**Hello! Here is my first TMNT one-shot in a while. I have recently started watching the 2012' series again and I am greatly bothered by how Don and Mikey aren't as close to each other as they are in other incarnations. So, this is my response to that. I hope I stayed in character as they are both a little different to their other personas. **

**I don't own TMNT (If I did, Mike and Don would have lots more fluffy moments :3)**

Okay, maybe putting a big red button on my latest invention was an idiotic move on my part. Especially when said button caused the invention to explode. I tempted fate in that move and now, here I am, plummeting to my death. If I live to survive this I will make sure to go to bed earlier in future to prevent such a decision again.

It may come as no surprise to anyone that _Mikey_ was the one who pressed the button out of sheer curiosity (what a surprise? Not.) Again, if I survive this fall, I am getting _him_ to repair my lab. It has probably been blown to bits! Then again, Mikey would probably find some way to make the damage done even worse.

I don't believe in luck but if I did, I would say it was lucky that I didn't actually fall to my death as my plastron slams into water. I barely missed the rubble which used to be the flooring of my lab which had fallen before me (gravity favouring heavy weights and all.) Still, belly flopping into water from the high height of forty feet stings something awful. Slamming into water from high heights can break bones but my plastron takes a majority of the force. Still, I can feel my arms and legs burning from the shock.

_Well this is nice, _I think sarcastically as I surface, spitting water. My lab and my latest invention have both been destroyed along with my other works, no doubt. I wouldn't put money on my computer and the Kraang communicator still being intact either. Not to mention being stuck in this hole now and the stinging in my arms and legs. Yeah, this is just peachy.

Some more rubble has began to fall into the hole and I move close to the walls in an attempt to avoid it. Some tiny rocks do strike me but I gain no further injuries.

My poor limbs. I can already see my arms and legs beginning to bruise and the pain is enough to confirm that the bruises aren't going to be small. I am so going to get Mikey for this...! Actually, I now realise that my brother is nowhere to be found... He should have fallen too... Where is he? "Mikey?!" I call, panic slowly setting in. Did he fall into the rubble? Oh Shell!

I dive into the water which was about waist high and look under the waters for my younger brother. Thanks to constantly swimming in sewer water (never a pleasant thing to do, mind) I have developed my sight in underwater areas, especially in underwater areas which are as filthy as this one. My guess is that this is actually sewer water, based on smell. I guess the explosion plummeted me two floors into the sewers.

Stretching out my arms, I hunt for Mikey. When I see nothing, my chest tightens, making it harder to breathe. I lift some lighter pieces of rubble out of my path as I hunt for him. Still nothing. Shell!

Turtles have slow metabolisms so we don't need to process as much oxygen, thus, we can stay underwater for some time without drowning despite us being air breathers. Mikey drowning is not who I am concerned about. I am concerned that Mikey might have slammed into a piece of rubble which, regardless of us having a shell, can cause serious damage. That includes disability. The explosion could have dealt him damage too - lethal burns, lost limbs etc. I managed to avoid the blast but Mikey may have gotten caught up in it. He was closer to my invention than I was at the time...

Sometimes I wish I didn't know so much. Now I am really panicking.

"MIKEY!" I am screaming now, pushing over rubble as if my life relies on it. My hands are shaking and I take a breath to calm myself, not that it worked it all.

"Donnie?"

At first, I feel a flood of hope that the voice may belong to Mikey. However, I soon catch on that the voice is too deep to belong to him and too far away. Surfacing and glancing up, I notice Raph and Leo examining the hole. It must have been Raph who called.

"Hayy!" I call back, waving my arms. The pair notice me then and they appear calmer, but I can't really tell considering the distance.

"What happened?" Leo calls down.

I sigh. Leo does tend to skip on the obvious. "What do you _think_ happened, Leo?!"

I pick up another piece of rubble and move it aside, still hunting for Mikey. As I do, I call up, "Can you guys look for Mikey? I can't find him and he was with me in the lab during the explosion."

In fact, he was the cause. If Mikey is fine I am so going to kill him for this.

Did I mention it is dark down here? Not too dark that I can't see a thing but it makes the searching much harder. The lights went out; again, because of the explosion in my lab so no light from there and the level of the sewer I am now in appears to be out of service. So, no lights. This is just spectacular. I am in the dark, I am in pain, my brother is missing and my lab is gone... ughh, I just want to go to bed. Hopefully this might be some sort of nightmare my mind has worked up... if it is, I would gladly give up science and go into the performing arts. Hah. That would never happen.

I dive again to continue my search. I am really beginning to get concerned for Mikey now, not that I wasn't before. Something must have happened. What I now wonder is what has happened and how bad is it. I need to make haste to find him to discover what.

"Don, he's over there!" Leo calls finally. I look up and see him pointing but he is too far away for me to ascertain where at.

Still, I follow the general direction of his finger and I eventually find Mikey. He did hit a piece of rubble, like I had worried about, but with his shell rather than his plastron. That is good. The shock of the hit also appears to have knocked him out as he isn't moving at all.

Trust my worries to come true. I really do not believe in luck.

I sit my brother upwards and look him over. He seems sound, despite a slight crack to his shell. If I wasn't so relieved to see he was alright I would say he deserved it for messing around with my inventions - again. Seriously, I need to find a door which can lock for my lab to prevent this from happening again. Although this is the most damage one of my inventions has done to the lair, my inventions going wrong because of my brothers is not uncommon.

Last week, for example, Leo accidentally caused my most recent attempt at creating another Metal Head to go berserk... ghee I miss that conical flask it broke. They are very hard to find in the dump with them being made of glass and all...

Mikey stirs a little and I watch as he slowly awakens, blinking back the blurriness in his eyes. He looks as if he had just been sleeping and when he looks up at me with a confused expression, I frown. "Don? What is going on?" He asks with a small voice. I frown further. Something isn't right.

"Mike, do you remember the explosion?" I ask him, rubbing his shell as he scratches his head.

"N-no... no, I don't."

"Well, what is the last thing you can remember?" I question him further. I try to keep my voice soft so not to stress him (and to not reveal the fact that I was in fact stressed) but I can see he is beginning to panic.

Mikey's voice shakes slightly as he speaks, disheartened. "I remember you being mad at me... I... um... I think I interrupted you while you were trying to make a move on April... no, I spilt mutagen over your desk again... or did I drop the Kraang communicator?... Umm... Oh, I don't know!"

My eyebrows narrow in thought. It seems Mikey has a slight concussion. Probably caused by the shock of the fall. Nothing I can't handle. If he remembered nothing I would be more concerned.

Trust Mikey to get himself in a position like this. This is the reason I never want to be in the same team as him! He is too brainless, too careless, his personality clashes too much with mine. We are polar opposites and I am starting to get sick of constantly fretting and worrying over him when he gets himself in ridiculous situations, like this one. Situations he normally drags me into as well.

"Don?" He asks quietly as I slowly return from my thoughts.

"What is it, Mike?" I reply, not really paying attention. Some people with concussion do sometimes ramble thoughtlessly and I have a feeling Mikey is going to be one of those people. I look up and notice Raph and Leo have gone. Probably gone to get some rope or something to get us up.

_"Do you... hate me?"_

I freeze.

Shock. It seals my moment and my breath hitches. _"Do you... hate me?"_ The words... they ring in my ears... and they sting. I struggle to breathe... What?!

Of course I don't hate Mikey! He is my brother. Sure, he's annoying as shell sometimes and I yell at him a lot... and I blame him for a lot... and I have pushed him aside more times than I can count... I insult him more than Leo and Raph... Wow... Am I really such a horrible person to him? Thinking about it now, I am especially mean to him. I tease Leo and Raph but Mikey... ghee, I am horrid.

I glance down. I am horrified. Does Mikey really believe that I hate him? He has perfect cause to but...

"No, Mike... I... I don't hate you." I stammer slowly, rubbing him on the shell. "You're my brother... I couldn't ever hate you."

Mikey has a small smile on his face of mild content but my face remains creased in horror. "I couldn't ever hate you neither, Don."

I look at my younger brother and his smile widens. "Sure, you yell a lot and sometimes say mean things but I know you don't mean it viciously, bro."

I nod but I am comforted little. Regardless of how you mean it, saying mean things is still a horrible thing to do.

By the time Leo and Raph return with some rope to get us out of the hole, I am out of it. Lost in thought, rethinking my attitude to not just my brother, but everything in general. Do I want to be viewed as a cold person? Is that what I want from life?

X-X-X

By the time Mikey wakes up the next morning, he has forgotten everything of the day before. That is not uncommon in people with concussion and I predicted this would happen. At least he is fine now.

When he walks into the kitchen to get some breakfast, completely oblivious of what had happened the day before, he is surprised when he sees a large box of pizza on the table and the whole family smiling at him.

"What is going on, dudes? Is it my birthday?!... please say yes," he says excitedly, grapping a slice from the box and devouring it in seconds.

Splinter smiles at Mikey as he asks, "How are you today, Michelangelo?" He takes a sip of his tea as Mikey bows his head slightly.

"Same as I am everyday, Master Splinter. You know my motto! 'You gotta' stay upbeat, upbeat, UPBEAT! Or you'll be dead meat, dead meat, DEADMEAT!" He does a little dance to the rhyme as he picks up another slice of pizza and eats it.

"Looks like you were right, Don. He doesn't remember a thing," Leo whispers to me. I nod with a smile as Raph walks over to Mikey and thumps him on the head.

"Ow!" Mikey squeaks highly, rubbing his forehead. "What was that for?!"

Raph laughs and pats the latter on the shell. "Good to have you in the land of the sane again, bro. I was beginning to think you would be telling us that you like pizza for all eternity."

"Eh?"

I am quiet as Raph explains to Mikey yesterdays events, skipping on the bits about our talk down there. I didn't tell Raph or Leo about it. Honestly, after we were brought back into my destroyed lab I was too busy trying to join caring for Mikey without medical equipment with trying to clean up my lab... it is so going to take ages to fix the flooring...

Mikey chuckles awkwardly when Raph finishes the story, rubbing the back of his head like he is uncomfortable. He turns to me and glances at the floor. "Sorry, Don... about your lab and your stuff, I mean... I didn't mean to. Do you hate me now?"

I small slightly as I walk over to him and pat him on the head. "No, Mike. I couldn't ever hate you." Mikey's face brightens until I add, "But you are so helping me repair to floor!"

"AWWW! Um, hayy Don. I think my head still hurts."

"You didn't hate your head, you dolt." I insult him softly, showing I hold no malice behind my words.

Mikey's smile turns into a smirk. I can tell what he is thinking. 'Why are you being so nice to me?'

I smirk too because he will never know the answer. Now, or ever.

**I hope you enjoyed this little fic and that you didn't find the characters OOC. Reviews/follows/faves are all greatly appreciated :)**


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